Latin Grammy-winner Among Artists to Open Philharmonic Season in Purchase

This announcement was first posted on the Bedford-Katonah Patch site by WestchesterPhilharmonic (Open Post):

The season-opening concert on Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 3 pm begins exotically when the Phil’s new Principal Conductor, Bolivian-born acclaimed violinist Jaime Laredo, leads Elegia Andina by composer Gabriela Lena Frank, who uses the folk melodies of Peru in a stirring and passionate “Elegy to the Andes.”

Born in Berkeley, California, to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Dr. Gabriela Lena Frank explores her multicultural heritage through her compositions. Winner of a Latin Grammy and nominated for Grammys as both composer and pianist, Frank also holds a Guggenheim Fellowship and a USA Artist Fellowship given each year to fifty of the country’s finest artists. Her work has been described as “crafted with unselfconscious mastery” (Washington Post), and “brilliantly effective” (The New York Times). Frank will talk about her work and career at the Phil’s free pre-concert discussion beginning at 2 pm.

The opening concert also features a brilliant pairing of mentor and disciple when Jaime Laredo leads former pupil: violinist Bella Hristova, the 2009 Young Concert Artists First Prize winner and recipient of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, in one of the best-known works for violin, Tchaikovsky’s Concerto for Violin. The concert also includes Dvořák’s majestic Seventh Symphony, revealing the master composer at the very height of his powers.

PROGRAM

Gabriela Frank: Elegia Andina
Dvorák: Symphony No. 7
Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin

Tickets: $30-$97. Concert presented at the Performing Arts Center, Purchase College.

To purchase tickets and for additional information call the Westchester Philharmonic Box Office at (914) 682-3707 ext. 10 or visitwww.westchesterphil.org.

Photo: Dr. Gabriela Lena Frank